Sunday, June 29, 2014

Hello! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. I had a great time hanging out with all my crafty friends at Chico Scrapbooks. We got inky, messy, and had lots of fun and laughs. Good friends and art. Good for the soul.

I started several projects and am looking forward to sharing sometime soon. Tonight is about the Tim Holtz June tag.

This month we learned how to use our layering stencils and our mini distress ink pads to make some watercolor backgrounds. What a fun process. I could seriously sit down and make stacks of these backgrounds.

I started with my stencils and without thinking pulled random ones and then some color combos with my minis. These are the backgrounds I created.

Two of the backgrounds really stood out to me so I created two tags this month. First up is one using the bubble stencil.

Distress colors on this tag were Faded Jeans, Broken China, Salty Ocean and Peeled Paint. The compass from the Travel Blue Print (CMS148) was my focal image. The sentiment is from Random Quotes set (CMS182).

The other technique this month was water coloring images with the mini pads and a water brush. What a quick and easy way to watercolor!

My second tag used the Crocodile stencil and was all about the pink.

Distress colors on this one were Picked Raspberry, Victorian Velvet and Antique Linen. I also added some greens, Peeled Paint, and Mowed Lawn on the stamped image. The dragonfly is from the Classics # 1 set (SCF001) and the sentiment is from the French Market set (small set from Michaels).

The dragonfly wings got a little shimmer with Perfect Pearls in Perfect Pearl.

Are you playing along with Tim's 12 Tags of 2014? Great way to learn new techniques with all those Ranger and Tim Holtz supplies I know you have got stashed in your crafty space. If you want to learn the techniques you can go to Tim's blog and check out this post.

Thanks Tim and team for all the inspiration and reminding us to Remember the Now!

Thanks to you for stopping by. It really means a great deal that you do.

Have a wonderful week. For those in the U.S. have a safe and happy fourth of July.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Hello, hope your week is going great. I've got a few things to share with you.

First, the Star Class. I taught a class on Saturday at Chico Scrapbooks. In addition to a wonderful store in Chico, CA owned by Jodie Beck and family, you can also find them on the web on Facebook and their newly launched web site at: http://chicoscrapbooks.com/

This fun 3D star wall hanging was inspired by Tammy Tutterow. She did an amazing star for Vintaj. Fell in love with it and knew I would have to make my own. Thanks so much Tammy for the inspiration! You can find lots more inspiration at Tammy's website at: http://tammytutterow.com/

I had a small group of ladies who had a fun time making their own wall hangings. Thanks so much to Pam, Linda, Marybeth, and Michele. I finally remembered to take some pictures during one of my classes, ha ha ha. Thanks to Jodie for snapping the group photo with the finish projects!

Second, something I have been waiting months for. The bugs have landed! Yikes, bugs, really? No, not an invasion of real bugs, but the Sizzix layered bee, butterfly, and dragonfly. Aren't they cool?

I also got the sand and sea bigz and mini dies.

Well, hello my new dies! I couldn't wait to open the packages and start cutting. I pulled out some watercolor paper and went to work. Oh my! Those shapes and all that textures just makes me swoon.

I grabbed the distress inks and starting bringing them to life.

Oh yes! This is what I've been waiting for. Yippee! Looking forward to trying markers, stains, perfect pearls, crackle and more on these guys. They just make me smile! How about you? Lots of ideas for cards, wall hangings, and more. Stay tuned for more adventures with our bug friends. And don't forget the seahorse and sand dollar. Grin! Hee, hee, hee.

Friday, June 20, 2014

this challenge is all about the layering stencils and texture paste. You can find the technique in Tim Holtz's book A Compendium of Curiosities Volume III on page 49.

I have been working on this one in bits and pieces as I find time and have managed to make it before the challenge closes is a few hours!

Since tomorrow is the first day of summer I wanted to do a beach theme. This time its a tag with the Nautical Blueprints, CMS194. Blues and browns, colors of the water and sand with distress stains.

Isn't the texture just yummy on the background, the starfish, and sand dollar?

Feels like summer to me. I can almost taste the salt in the air.

Challenge 4 is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique, who will award a $25 gift certificate to one lucky, randomly selected participant. Linda and the team will select a "Curiosity Crew's Choice" winner who will receive a wonderful assortment of Tim's products, courtesy of Tim himself, and Mario Rossi, his Business Manager.

Have you gotten your own Compendium Volume III book yet so you can play along too? You know you want to!

Monday, June 16, 2014

Sorry it's been a bit longer than usual since my last post. My pay the bills job has been insanely busy and I just took the weekend off to chill.

Never fear I am working on some projects that I will share very soon.

Hope you had wonderful Fathers Day and gave your Dad lots of love.

My next class is coming up on Saturday. For those of you in the Chico area I will be teaching a textured 3 D patriotic star wall hanging at Chico Scrapbooks. This piece is based on one that Tammy Tutterow did for Vintaj. Her work is so inspiring and her website is amazing. Check out Tammy's website at tammytutterow.com

Here is Tammys piece I fell in love with at CHA. Don't you just love all the texture?

Mine is very much like hers but with a bit of seam binding to add a patriotic touch.

Hope you have a wonderful week. I'm working on my piece for the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge # 4 so stay tuned for that post this week.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

I am having so much fun with the CC3C! Have you joined in the fun? Stopped by Studio L3 to check out all the amazing art? If not, what are you waiting for?

The Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge is in full swing at Linda Ledbetter's blog over here. Challenge 3 is all about the Faux Tea Roses. One key rule on these challenges is that we must not post the technique instructions. This is out of respect and appreciation for all the work that Tim Holtz invested in creating the book.

I wanted the feel of one of those Victorian cones with all the flowers in it. Instead of a cone I used a Tim Holtz idea-ology Kraft Glassine pocket. It's hard to see in the photos but I created a hanger with idea-ology jute string attached to the top of the glassine pocket.

These roses are a blast to make and really quite addictive. Great activity to keep your fingers busy while watching your favorite show. I added some greenery and inspiration sentiments and banners. For interest I took a honeycomb frameworks I had previously cut out of cork and popped in a few pieces and adhered to the front of the pocket.

Here are the roses spilling out of the top of the pocket with the banners and greenery poking out.

Another look at the frameworks and the single rose on the front.

Thanks Linda and the curiosity crew for all the inspiration. This challenge is allowing me to carve out time to create projects just for me. A pure joy!

Challenge 3 is sponsored by Inspiration Emporium. A wonderful online store that carries all kinds of Tim Holtz items and much, much more. One lucky, randomly selected participant will get a Fifty Dollar gift certificate.

Thanks for stopping by. I do hope you take time to create something. It does wonders for the soul.